The story from the middle
by geekchic-space
Summary: Yes, the doctor is human and on Bad Wolf Bay, and more than one person has left him today...
1. Chapter 1

**Hi thanks for opening this, just to let you know this is my first go at this sort of thing in ages, and any feedback would be greatly appreciated, this story has been on my mind since the broadcast of Journey's End and I know that everyone and their dog has had a go, but something has made me want to add my own two cents as well. So I guess the disclaimer is what traditionally follows at this point – not mine I guess, there you go.**

The TARDIS dematerialised from Bad Wolf Bay for the first and last time. Rose Tyler eased her hand out of the Doctor's grip; she smiled a soft wistful smile and kissed him gently on the cheek. "I've missed you... I will miss you." With those words she blinked out of existence.

The Doctor gaped for a moment, "What?" The idea of losing a heart, a universe and a Rose Tyler again threatened to overwhelm him. The sound of waves crashing on the shore and the biting frigidity of the cold Norwegian air fading as the focus of his existence centred on the rushing of blood to his head and an incredible sudden shortness of breath. Somewhere deep inside of his subconscious a tiny voice wryly remarked _that'll be the respiratory bypass gone then. _The Doctor did not pay any heed to that little voice.

A hand gently brushed his blue-clad shoulder, he blinked and the world shimmered back into focus. The owner of that hand did not say anything, Jackie Tyler did not look surprised to have just seen her eldest child blink out of existence for no apparent reason, and in fact the Doctor could swear that she almost looked pleased. That was something else to perplex the Doctor even further; he was in shock, a man with his frankly incredible intelligence, quick wit and unmatched verbal skills and he had lost all power of coherence. Jackie tugged his sleeve lightly and led him away from the shore and the fast rising tide. As they reached the crest of the hill which separated the shore from land he was surprised at the sight which befell him. A full camp was set up vehicles, caravans and tents were sprawled around giving the area a look which was a mix between holiday camp, research base and military operation and from the Torchwood / UNIT regalia plastered about the place he supposed that was just what it was.

A new feeling now pushed its' way forward inside of him, apprehension, was he under threat? His brain kicked back into focus, adrenaline, human response, possible danger, back straighter, self-preservation. "Look Jackie... what the hell is going on?!" He spun around to Rose's mother in agitation, "Rose has just disappeared, and you seem to have taken me to a military base...." Annoyingly Jackie just smiled in understanding with an almost bemused look upon her face and was about to open her mouth to respond when she was cut off by an almighty squeal.

The Doctor spun around to see the source of the noise and was surprised by the very unlikely sight of Rose Tyler. Not the one who had just given him a rather nice snog on the beach, thank you very much, before all of that nasty confusion but Rose closer to how he remembered her the last time he saw her in this setting, via supernova destroying, soul devastating, no touching communication. He boggled again, mouth gasping open like a little fly trap. The little voice inside his head which had so wryly remarked earlier on the absence of his respiratory bypass felt the need to add its two cents again. _Was this face going to be the defining feature of this new human form; Big eyed, mouth gaping open in confusion?_

All of a sudden his arms were full; she had launched herself at him and landed in the most proper place in any universe for either of them to be, wrapped around each other in warm embrace. The physical reality of this overrode any questions for the moment; a strange sort of contentment which had been eluding him for, oh so long now trickled into the edge of his conscious. His eyes had closed and he hadn't realised, he sprung them back open again and hugged her closer trying to merge their two beings into one lowering his head into the crook of her neck breathing in her scent. This feeling was the one he missed in their earlier reunion; this was quiet joy, solace and absolution. The thoughts of the earlier reunion shunted his brain back online, Rose had just left him on the beach, _there was probably some strange karma in that_ the wry voice in his head remarked again. The thoughts that this voice aired were not the most prevalent however, two Rose's he opened his mouth again to speak but was cut off before he could form any articulate words.

"Oh, I have missed you", Rose exclaimed, there was more than that showing in her eyes though, on both their sides, trying to further articulate or verbalise the emotions of both their separation and reunion which were spiralling around them, almost palpable in the air, would be an injustice, so it was just left at that.

Rose continued "I know I definitely owe you an explanation on this one, quite a hullabaloo really, but just let me hold onto you for a second longer," she began to babble in a manner quite reminiscent of his own. "I know you've already seen me and I guess I will have seen you too then, but..."

She untangled herself then from his embrace still standing closer than what in polite company would seem decorous grasping both of his hands tightly her golden honey eyes captured his warm chocolate ones. "Hello," again her gaze was saying more than the vocabularies of various solar systems and multi-verses could ever aspire to express, hope, joy, uncertainty, disbelief, relief and a kaleidoscope of emotion flickered between them and tears began to trickle from her eyes.

"I mean I knew you were coming, she-I said... but it didn't feel real, I mean how could it? The whole circumstance really was incredibly unbelievable that it simply couldn't be real."

She was babbling again it was different really from the quiet earnestness that he was used to in some of the more poignant moments that shone in his memories, _better with two, I'm so glad I met you, forever, I'm never going to leave you, I love you. _

"But I can see you now, I can touch you..." Of course this was significant and made her pause; she physically shook her head to dislodge the memories of their last encounter in Norway where only one set of their footprints registered on the cold wet sand. She increased the pressure of her hands in his as if to assure herself of his presence and steeled herself again.

"We seem to have gotten ourselves mixed up in a tiny paradox doctor..." His eyebrows rose at this but he let her continue. "About six months ago I'm sitting at my desk in my office in Torchwood..." her nose crinkled somewhat in the most strangely endearing way at the words 'office' and 'desk'.

"And suddenly I look up and there she is – or well I am, I wasn't sure what to think at first, doppelgangers , imposters, clone I mean we have had an interesting few years of late but then it felt like 1987 again, which was wrong in so many ways and couldn't run away fast enough..." There was a slightly embarrassed grin before she continued, "well future me goes and surrenders herself over to Mickey and volunteers to explain, I couldn't bring myself to be in the same room with her though so we ended up in the interview suite with glass between us..."

**To be continued... if you guys think its worth it really, wouldn't want to waste your time ******** let me know. Thanks again.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks for sticking with me; the ideas have kept coming to me so I guess I will continue. I think my narrative may have slipped into a sort of Douglas Adams-esqe sort of stream of consciousness thing but it's actually turning into more fun writing this way. Anyway let me know if I have completely lost the plot.**

"_So we ended up in the interview suite with glass between us..."_

Again she paused, suddenly aware of the audience that they had gathered; those intense private moments had been played in front of an audience of her Torchwood and UNIT colleagues and her parallel family. They all knew the story which was to come of course but she blanched at the idea that she would have to share this with the Doctor while everyone else was watching, their foreknowledge must be undoubtedly irking him, he always did hate not being the first to know what was going on and generally bamboozling everyone with his brilliance. He was still oddly silent thinking about it for the first time really she felt what it must be like from his perspective, he had come into existence pretty much a few hours ago and then dumped into an alternate universe, no TARDIS, new body and the matter of her somewhat dual existence to deal with. She shuffled her feet and gestured to one of the caravans that made up the camp, he nodded in concurrence and they made their way into the privacy and shelter that the fibreglass construction offered.

_What to say really, what to think_, the doctor contemplated as they made their way into relative privacy. The presence of Rose in a confined space was attractive the quiet of not having an audience was something that he had been denied since he had come into existence, he understood that this had also been the case for his counterpart on the other side of the void, then again his counterpart had never come into contact with this Rose Tyler at all. This one was all his, he wondered then if that was too much to assume, but then the other Rose, he was guessing future Rose had confusingly told him that she had missed him before she disappeared on the shoreline, so he guessed it would fair to assume some measure of familiarity. Oh who was he kidding this was the woman he loved, he had finally managed to say it she knew now, she was supposed to have always known really, but there was something in the verbalisation really, felt nice. Ohhkay paradox, two Roses' thinking time now really... then the little smart-ass voice in his head piped up again, _two Roses' _something Jack had said earlier when there were three doctors popped into his consciousness and he filed that thought away for further contemplation later, the doctor suppressed a mental grin.

"So your future self turns up at work one day out of the blue and you won't talk to yourself except through a barrier?" He thought that was rather cute actually, though he considered the last events when she had met herself in 1987 were sufficiently traumatic to prompt this sort of reaction, that was the wisdom and caution that sometimes only came with experience. She nodded in response to his prodding for her to continue with the story and began to further elaborate.

==FLASHBACK==

Click, tap, click, tap, the only sounds in the small room were the intermittent tapping of slender fingers on a keyboard, the slight background humming of the air conditioning system and the gentle if somewhat melancholic breathing of the occupant of the room currently engaged in the generating of the typing noises which dominated the audio landscape. Now breathing cannot usually be described as melancholic but that is precisely what the breathing of the occupant of the room's breathing was, each soft sigh spoke of a silent wistfulness which also sat in the eyes of said occupant on more than one occasion. The occupant herself was Rose Tyler, she was around 25 years old, unusually she was not quite sure of that fact, but that was not the most unusual thing about her. She looked young for her age and was in a position of great responsibility. Publicly her origins were somewhat suspect having appeared out of nowhere fully grown as the progeny of Peter Tyler vitex millionaire and hero of the post Cybus days in the tow of her recently un-dead mother years after said mother's disappearance. This had been explained away with farfetched tales of herself having been a very ill child and hidden to protect her privacy and for her own safety who when in her teens had gotten better decided to pursue her education 'abroad' and remain in obscurity. Her mother on the other hand had gone into hiding post the rise of the Cybermen to allow Pete to fight while not having to worry about Jackie Tyler's safety or presenting 'the enemy' with a weakness.

Reality was so much stranger than this loosely woven fiction Jacqueline Tyler did indeed die at the hands of the Cybermen, the Jackie Tyler who currently reigned as the queen of society in a decidedly different manner to how she did in the pre-Cybus days was born in another universe. Her husband had died in 1987 and she had spent many years on her own living in a council flat raising their daughter. Rose Tyler was the product of this Jackie Tyler and the long deceased Pete Tyler of this other universe, her story was not that much more remarkable than that of her mother's until she turned 19 and met a man who opened her eyes to a whole different realm of experience, knowledge and feeling. The man she met was an alien, he travelled in a magnificent ship and all of time and space was his domain, he took her on a journey that was abruptly cut short and which had landed her in her current predicament.

(Now we are not a stranger to this part of the story of the Doctor and his Rose, of their initial meeting and their subsequent adventures before their most unfortunate separation by the walls between universes and a void between them filled with the enemies of nightmares so we shall pick the story up where Rose Tyler in a small caravan by a beach in Norway had begun to elaborate the current state of affairs to the now human doctor. )

The busy work on the keyboard continued in the small office where Rose Tyler was currently doing paperwork, the paperwork was apparently a necessary evil in the business of global security but since she had done the same sort of job before with none of those constraints and at the side of someone she loved more than anything, the paperwork always particularly irked her. There was a sudden shift in the room however which lit her senses; she looked up away from the screen in front of her to find the chair on the other side of her desk was not unoccupied and most disturbingly the gaze that was returned was her own.

In perhaps some sort of cosmic joke that no one would be privy to, not even the Doctor or Rose themselves, this meeting happened at the same time as the Doctor meeting his fifth self in an almost Belgium sized incident. However curiously serendipitous these moment s may be they are really not relevant unless to illustrate some synchronicity or connection which would allow the Doctor and Rose Tyler to be both having conversations with themselves at the same time in different universes.

Upon ascertaining that she was indeed encountering her future self Rose Tyler followed her instincts and promptly bolted; she only returned to occupy the same theoretical space as herself when a glass barrier stood between them. As the Doctor had surmised when she later relayed the details of this to him the events of their trip to 1987 had made her very wary of the idea of going back on crossing timelines. Something in the back of her mind tensed and prayed that this would not bring the end of the world and reapers down on their heads. "Hello," she finally said to herself curiosity beginning to burn away the initial fear; she made no effort to disguise the scrutiny she now put herself under. Physically there was not too much difference, her future self was thinner and had shorter hair, and the way she held herself was much more composed than Rose felt she could currently pull off even though as Special Consultant for Torchwood and open to loan to a number of similar organisations she was no stranger to leadership. But even she felt that there was a league of experience that stood between them.

Now 'future Rose' was slightly amused and slightly exasperated having been on the other side of the upcoming conversation, and well subsequent conversations that were to come she did at least know what she needed to say, well maybe not needed to say really, had said would be more accurate she guessed. Even though she knew how this was supposed to end she had to be so careful, one wrong move and everything could collapse really, quite a terrible burden she had ended up with really, she was not one to shy away from responsibility though and she knew that at the end of this she had the opportunity to try and keep a promise she had made oh so long ago, something related to the words _forever._

Future Rose shook herself from this reverie and regarded herself with a knowing smile, that fear of the reapers descending had not completely dissipated from her perspective even though she had a very special expert assure her of the order of things and a very specific reason which negated any fears of touching herself but the glass between herself and her past was still a comfort.

"Now I am not going to say too much," she looked meaningfully at herself, "too much and we are back in 1987," her other self shuddered visibly, she was also glad that this was enough as she knew that this conversation was being recorded and there was much that both of her wanted to remain private. "I'm you of course from the future, I don't really want to elaborate too much but I have got a job to do that I need to be in this time period for...The darkness is coming..." Future Rose grinned mentally she remembered her own frustration with herself from the other perspective _textbook enigmatic._

**Sorry I know that's rude really the plot really has not progressed much, I hope it's not going too slowly, just some parts wanted to come out really and the characters just wanted it.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Okay I don't know if anyone cares but sorry about the delay in update – blame laziness (have been off from uni for two months now have been barely motivated to get out of bed) Facebook and Twilight (like I needed another obsession! :P I have read all four books at least 3 times in the last month) and it's SO hot here where I am! All of which exasperated some dire writer's block. But seriously please let me know what you think.**

Rose wrinkled her nose in that very cute and distracting way the Doctor loved as she spoke,

"Other Rose was a bit of a pain Doctor, I mean I know she was me and all but we were just so ... different, plus I think we must spend a lot of time together in the future, she—I well was doing that mysterious stranger bit that you like to do."

Young Rose Tyler held the Human Doctor's arm and gaze with endearing earnestness. The Doctor indeed did actually understand what she was trying to convey.

"Having had met myself of a number of occasions I can honestly say I know what you mean," He assured her with some amount of chagrin, even though until his coming into existence in the last 24 hours this had always happened with different bodies there was always that awkwardness of both knowing yourself but also being a stranger and having been on both sides of having and not having future knowledge he understood perfectly if Rose had been somewhat standoffish with herself.

He waggled his eyebrows suggestively, "Mysterious stranger... Rose Tyler?" She blushed slightly, their time apart increasing the affect that his quietly intense flirting had on her; She visibly had to shake herself out of the stupor he had been close to inducing, not quite brave enough yet to return to the pattern of escalating matters in a slightly childish way to either diffuse the situation or ramp it up, the latter had not yet been the outcome of that game.

"Okay basic facts Doctor, me today was future me, don't even know from when, can confirm it was me not some imposter ," she was very careful with her choice of words there, she didn't want to use the words clone or copy with any flippancy around him, from her limited contact with her enigmatic future self she knew that the doctor she would see today would be something new, still very much the doctor but also in a new skin, he was now something entirely foreign to himself and she did not want him to dwell on something which no doubt cause him some dilemma which would seriously take some of the shine off of her long awaited reunion; happy now; there was time for philosophical matters later. "She really wouldn't tell me much enough for us to trust her but she said the rest was for us to figure out for ourselves, what were her words now? Wouldn't want to spoil the book by skipping right to the end, lose all the fun of the journey." Rose and the Doctor both liked that sentiment it was freedom really the future Rose left them with enough information that they would be able to avoid catastrophe of the reaper kind raining down on their heads but left the future enough of a mystery that they were allowed to make their own choices, the life they decided to live would be that of their own making not one according to a script or predestination.

"Ourselves," The Doctor wrapped that word around his mouth and mind, "Rose, I like the sound of that," he shifted in his seat in the tiny caravan bringing his body into closer contact with hers, there was a new light in his eyes it was very hopeful but there was a hesitancy and shyness which was incredibly reminiscent of their exchange in the snow-ash the first Christmas they shared with this face. Rose shifted her body as well, closing the last vestiges of space between them, there was a new shyness to her that he found incredibly endearing in his little flirt, it added to the seriousness of the moment they had been apart for years and to suddenly be together and pushing away the emotional boundaries that were carefully erected between them since the word 'run' was almost overwhelming. Rose lifted her palm and placed it gently on the Doctor's face feeling the slightly hot and rough texture of his form, her eyes were shining bright, the doctor bought his palm forwards and mimicked the move on her smooth cheek, the blush it incited making his palm burn slightly hotter. "Yes, Doctor I like the sound of that too," she breathed "I..." She faltered slightly her breathing quickened and the Doctor knew what was coming, Older Rose had to force both of him into a stand-off to bring those words to the bear on the shore, but they now played on his tongue merrily something he didn't have to force himself to swallow in the interest of self preservation, these words were now his salvation. He moved his open palm from her cheek to the nape of her neck and bought his lips to her ear "My turn I think Rose Tyler, I love you."

She pulled herself out of his embrace only slightly, not creating any distance between them just seeking out his eyes, hers were sparkling, shining with joy and unshed tears, when they met his eyes which burned with such gravitas and intensity there was no doubt. She held his gaze with no hesitation then, "I love you!" She exclaimed with such freedom like a weight had been lifted off. She then launched herself back into the Doctor's embrace, climbing onto his lap and settling herself there. He wrapped his arms around her body and pulled her closer still, tightening his grip, he wanted to hold her so tight that it hurt him; that it would somehow fuse them into one being so they could never be parted again. Rose shared that sentiment and clung to him tighter in reciprocation she took in his scent and had never felt more at home, for the first time in years she felt complete.

The doctor buried his nose in her neck and revelled in the feeling of having the woman he loved crushed in his arms, feeling her body pressed against his so intimately, she shifted slightly and in doing so grazed her lips along his slightly stubbled jaw line his heart thundered in his ears and he adjusted his position so his lips would meet hers. The kiss was not like the one he had received on the beach. This one began with gentle contact, it felt like a warm electrical current had replaced the blood in his veins, the build up was gradual warmth, pressure intensity building at a steady yet increasing pace mimicking the actions of his one heart. Their mouths moved together in the manner of a sacrament this was a prayer this was a promise, this was everything.

**Thanks again for your time ******** - really please let me know what you think I could use some help I think.**


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